Habitat for Humanity to rebuild some of city's foreclosed homes

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett said the city's housing stock has "good bones," and he is counting on Habitat for Humanity's help to turn those bones into the American dream of home ownership.

Piece by piece workers tore down so they could build up a decaying Milwaukee home at 35th and Vliet streets.

"Neighbors next door, across the street come over to me, and say, 'I'm sure glad you guys are doing something with that house,'" deconstruction foreman Brian Baldwin said.

City leaders signed over the deed to one of more than 1,000 city-owned, foreclosed properties.

"We want to take them from being abandoned structures and make them into homes," Barrett said.

Habitat for Humanity officials said building from the ground up is usually cheaper, but with support from the city and community development grants, they're able to rehab six foreclosed properties.

"Over the next year, it's our hope as an organization that we will invest in 12 new projects, rehab projects in the Washington Park neighborhood," said Brian Sonderman of Milwaukee Habitat for Humanity.

Tyeshia Boyle's family knows what happens when that occurs.

They are one of five families right across the street who worked with Habitat for Humanity to build new houses, and she said with ownership, comes pride.

"Creates just an increased domino effect. So if a new house comes on to the scene that people will take more responsibility for their neighborhood," Boyle said.

A project taking foreclosures off the city rolls and putting homes within reach for families.

The estimated cost of the current rehab is about $125,000.Plans are to initially renovate six homes in the next year and a half.

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